Not only are frogs unclean animals according to the Mosaic Law, but they inhabit unclean places, are ugly, have ugly voices, making only croaking sounds, and some froglike creatures, toads, even emit poison from their skin.

Certain animals were unclean, and the Israelites were not to eat them.

To the Jews, dogs were unclean animals.

In King Solomon’s day and in Jesus’ day there were many animals, birds and insects that God’s law pronounced unclean for the Israelites to eat.

According to God’s law swine were unclean animals, and not only were the Israelites forbidden to eat their flesh or to use them for sacrifices but even to touch the carcasses of swine made an Israelite unclean.

● On what basis could there be a distinction between clean and unclean animals before the Noachian flood, before man ate meat, before the Mosaic law was given?—E.

For instance, while in the port city of Joppa, Peter had a vision in which God’s representative told him to slaughter and eat animals that, according to the Mosaic Law, were unclean.

For example, speaking about certain unclean animals, the Law stated: “Now anything upon which any of them should fall in its death state will be unclean. . . .

Later, when the apostle Peter, while in a trance, objected to eating animals that were unclean according to the Mosaic law, he was told: “You stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” (Acts 10:15)

The Israelites in general, and the priests in particular, were already under certain regulations that made touching dead unclean animals a thing to be avoided, for it resulted in temporary uncleanness. (Lev. 11:24, 25; 22:2-7)

So in Genesis 7:2 the repeating of “seven” does not mean seven pairs, or fourteen clean animals, but means seven of each kind were to be taken.

In these verses the meaning is obvious that the unclean animals entered the ark “by twos.”